I can't imagine what I would feel if I glanced out the window to see a flaming rock that size hurling itself towards me. What are the odds it hit any populated areas? Russia is both lucky and unlucky all at once; they have a huge land mass which is sparsely populated.

None of the other news agencies seem to have picked up on this. I have a feeling that image (if real) is going to be widely circulated tomorrow.

I have been known here in the U.S. when I see or hear something that might be a meteor (usually it isn't) do something along those lines. I have never seen anything in the league of that scale though. At best I have seen shooting stars. Oh and I do it in such a way to avoid danger to myself and others.

It makes me wonder the odds of a few mile across space rock hit hitting Earth and if governments should invest more in tracking these rocks.

Fragments of the meteor fell in a thinly populated area of the Chelyabinsk region, the Emergency Ministry said in a statement.

Interior Ministry spokesman Vadim Kolesnikov said 102 people had called for medical assistance following the incident, mostly for treatment of injuries from glass broken by the explosions. Kolsenikov also said about 600 square meters (6,000 square feet) of a roof at a zinc factory had collapsed.

Reports conflicted on what exactly happened in the clear skies. A spokeswoman for the Emergency Ministry, Irina Rossius, told The Associated Press that there was a meteor shower, but another ministry spokeswoman, Elena Smirnikh, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying it was a single meteorite.

Amateur video broadcast on Russian television showed an object speeding across the sky about 9:20 a.m. local time (0320 GMT), leaving a thick white contrail and an intense flash.

Bad Astronomer says this is purely coincidence that this event occurred so close in time to the passing of 2102 DA14. I don't really like pure coincidence when dealing with astronomical scales. They tend to turn out not to be so purely coincidental.

Don't read me wrong. I don't go for conspiracy/wacko theories either. I just think it's way to early to write off as coincidence without further analysis.

It is actually, from what I understand. Driving laws and rules in Russia are... dicey. So many drivers have recording devices on their dash in order to help officials know what happened in accidents to determine fault.

Bad Astronomer says this is purely coincidence that this event occurred so close in time to the passing of 2102 DA14. I don't really like pure coincidence when dealing with astronomical scales. They tend to turn out not to be so purely coincidental.

Don't read me wrong. I don't go for conspiracy/wacko theories either. I just think it's way to early to write off as coincidence without further analysis.

Click to expand...

You and me both. My first thought was that this thing is/was a chunk of DA14 or maybe a tag along.

From the numerous videos and news reports, it looks to me as though this meteorite entered the atmosphere travelling roughly east (from the direction of the rising sun) to west. 2012 DA14 will pass by the Earth travelling south to north.